Saran Cerementi

Saran Cerementi was the re-creation of Saran al-Ashari, Rogue of the Grey Waste and Brother to Jahiliya of Veladorn, an early 1x triple class [ Ra:25 Sh:25 Th:23 ]. Upon Cordir's promotion to DemiGoddess in 3x, Saran unretired from TFC. As his playerfile was long since purged, he created a unique character - Saran Cerementi - a risen mummy of his earlier 'incarnation'.

Character History:

Saran's recreation was skillfully played out as the ancient memories of the original character and the tortured self-aware mummy of the new. His character history is split between the two. To further his character's RP, he came up with the 10 Paths of Mummy Magic (see below).

I was manufactured in Cilladelia during the Time of the High Queen, as all bolts of elfweave are. Arcane magics were woven into me, and my being grew, shaped and guided under the skills of a masterweaver centuries old. After years of painstaking preparations, my creation was complete, and I lay whole and perfect before any who gazed upon me.

I was born in the Grey Waste in the Year of Darkest Sun, to parents unknown and near siblings unseen, and was taken up by the Wanderers there. Spirit magics were taught unto me, and my being grew, tested and built under the strains of a malefic waste aged even in unknown antiquity. After years of preparation, my training was ended, and I stood hale and ready before the elements that bore upon me.

I was purchased and transformed by the bandage makers, cut and spun and stitched into those ceremonial wrappings fit for the most noble of interments. High wards were threaded through me, that my purpose in safeguarding my charge be kept at any cost. I hung in the temple of cerements and waited to fulfill my duty.

I was discovered and transfixed by the city humans, cut and stunned and stained to that integral horror toward modernity that comes for those living in most noble nature. Great spirits I channeled around me, that the blessed ways of thriving in nature be defended through all days. I wandered with sister and friends and crusaded to uphold my calling.

I was dedicated at the start of the Third Age, bound to protect the fallen form of a great human obliterated by the power of the Vortex at the end of the Second Age. I felt the word of binding, heard the scent of death, tasted the pleasure of flesh. I was one with my new lover, and would protect my beloved for time without end.

I was corrupted at the dawn of 'a better Age', betrayed by darksome shades in the howling chaos of insanity uncomprehending people have called the Vortex. I fell, seemingly ended, but knew that with time I could piece my avatar back together. Then I felt the lashing pain of soulbinding, heard my spirit scream and shatter, tasted a bitter certainty that never again would I be who I had been and should be. I was one with my new prison, and could never escape the gaol, even were time itself to end.

For centuries I protected my lover in my cold, white embrace. While gods rose and fell I kept the rot at bay and preserved each perfect feature from the ravages of time. But then the resistance began, as though the perfect flesh itself were opposed to my gentle caress. I fought as I had been made, to the utmost of my abilities, until one night I saw my lover's golden voice, and surrendered myself into an even more perfect union.

How long I screamed I shall never know, but each moment was a cold, white eternity, and there were countless millions of them. Horrible power kept me whole long after my flesh should have joined again to the great Mother. But eventually I learned to manage the hellstabs, to see this torment as a White waste to make the Grey one a life of city decadence by comparison. I mastered that, I would master this. Though I could never call on the Mother's spirit again, yet might I will my own. Though I could never escape my prison, yet might I see myself its master. How long I fought I can never know, but I rewove the fragments of my sundered soul and bound them into the wrappings of my prison, letting my tortured body crumble at last.

I Rise this night. I leave this crypt and walk into the magnificent city where I was made, a filthy urban mire I have never seen. Who I am, I am not sure. I am not who I was, nor what I was, but rather I am what I will be. No longer am I the ranger, the shaman, the thief of the wild - now I am magic itself. No longer am I a ward, a seal, a binding against all change - now I am resurrection incarnate. The night is young, and I will learn of this new world. I will find the great wise craftswomen who made me, and I will stalk those monsters for time without end for this blasphemy against life they have made with their evil magics. For I am Saran, Wanderer of the Wastes, and I will not keep the blasted desolation to myself any longer.

10 Paths of Mummy Magic

Created by Saran:

Saran is, technically, a 'mage', and has access to what they do. More specifically, however, he is a mummy, one of mage magic itself, and his ability to 'be a mage' is limited and guided by the nature of his dead body.

Mummies work magic along fixed Paths, growing, in sequence, up each Path, learning the magics along it. Each Path has 5 spells, each of fixed place on the Path, and one cannot attain, say, the 4th level of a given Path without knowing the first 3 levels first. (Though it's not a geas, Saran has learned and will continue to learn his magics along the paths given, even where that involves delaying a spell's acquisition). The Paths, collectively, go by different names in different cultures: Hekau, Pneuma, Thaumaturgy, etc. Saran may well come up with his own name for the things.

There are 10 Paths in all. Saran finds one Path (Draining) too tempting for his Rage, one Path (Spirit) too painful to contemplate (ordering spirits around by compulsion, like puppets), and one Path (Energy) too ... alien ... for his tastes. His geas forbids him to ever pursue the magics of these Paths. The 7 Paths he shall acquire are:

Bone Shintai - augmenting the dead 'god-body', drawing on its form.
> Ward of Pearl (Shield)
>> Tireless Stride (Refresh)
>>> Strength of Ivory (Strength)
>>>> Unbreathing (Waterbreath)
>>>>> Bone Skin (Stone Skin)

Celestial - divination by astral energies.
(Requires holding off on Comprehend Languages until 6th level, which Saran did)
> Feel the Astral Flow (Detect Magic)
>> Piercing the Shroud (Detect Invis)
>>> Dowsing (Locate Object)
>>>> Perceive the True Names (Comprehend Languages)
>>>>> Scent Corruption (Detect Disease)

Ghost-Flame - cold, blue-white 'flames' of the soul sent outward
> Nimbus of the Ka (Chill Touch)
>> Bolt from Within (Burning Hands)
>>> Flames of Revelation (Faerie Fog)
>>>> Pyre of Vengeance (Fireball)
>>>>> Exhale the Five Poison Cloud (Acid Blast)

Radiance - manifestations of light (blue-white with red bits, in Saran's case)
(requires holding off continual light for a while, which Saran only now got)
> Blinding Light (Blindness)
>> Bolt of Radiance (Lightning Bolt)
>>> Undying Light (Continual Light)
>>>> Lightburst (Colour Spray)
>>>>> Orb of Ra (Sunlight)

Sigils - analyzing existing runes and making new ones
(requires holding off enchant for a while, which Saran will do)
> Sign of Warning (Alarm)
>> Mark of Claiming (Wizard Mark)
>>> Glyph of Awareness (Survey)
>>>> Sigils of Understanding (Improved Identify)
>>>>> Runes of Empowerment (Enchant Weapon)

Smothering - magics of suppression and concealment
> White Tiger Mantle (Invis)
>> Extinguish the Astral Fire (Dispel Magic)
>>> Shroud of Night (Darkness)
>>>> Call of the Void (Silence)
>>>>> White Tiger Body (Improved Invis)

Wayfare - methods of moving to other places/planes
> Leap of the Flea (Jump)
>> Wings of the Ibis (Fly)
>>> Gate of Hermes (Portal)
>>>> Steps of Osiris (Passdoor)
>>>>> Word of Chance (Teleport)